fibers?

Once again another presentation has opened up my perception of what “art” is. Fibers is a very interesting medium but seems very challenging. The intricacy of various weaving techniques to create such different products is pretty cool. Sarah focused on the prominence of fibers through the 60s and 80s and explained how it wasn’t necessarily considered “art” by many institutions. One artist of the day whose work she highlighted was Claire Zeisler. I really like her spiral installation because of the freeness and independence of the spirals yet they were bound in unity because they were a group. The other installation of Zeisler’s Sarah showed was something I also thought was unique. At first it looked like a grand throne for a queen to adorn but then after the class discussion I realized the meaning totally went over my head. However, after hearing the opinions and interpretations of other classmates I have to say it’s a pretty brilliant installation. When you factor in the context of the time period, her gender and the attitude of the art community toward fibers her freestanding fiber structure representing a vagina is pretty remarkable. It’s very powerful and witty.

Ann Hamilton is one of those WTF artists for me. I know she’s trying to convey and depict some pretty important concepts but I just don’t know what they are and how to analyze her work. For example her installation titled, “Bearings,” features two large circular black silk curtains. First I tried to analyze the title. I think in this context, “bearings,” means placement, location or place of residence, not as in an address but rather a permanent habitat. The physical presence of the curtains is very ominous which could also be overbearing, something else that relates to the title. I know her work is very meaningful and I’m not quite sure what that meaning is but hopefully my interpretation skills will improve over the course of this term. On the other hand, Cai Guo-Qaing’s style is very in your face and intense. I thought his gunpowder pieces were very original because he could never produce the same thing. His massive car installation was beautiful. Although this installation is based off of the relevance and fear of car bombings, the illustration of an explosion in such an eloquent way gave it a quality of attractiveness.

I think an obvious and pretty basic connection between the presentation and the two featured artists is that they all have something powerful to say and they can say it through different ways in the same medium but different variations. For example, Ann Hamilton can work with crimson powder to create message while Cai Gou-Qaing can use lifelike representations to make a statement and Cat Mazza’s huge Nike quilt made from fabric to raise awareness about their poor labor laws. Maybe it’s a rudimentary connection or maybe it’s not even a connection at all. I was going for a, “they’re connected through their differences,” type of link but I think fibers is such a vast medium that I’m going to have to stretch for a connection. Not all of this work is abstract but not all of it is literal. The topic was fibers so the commonality between all of them can’t be the medium so I think they can be connected through the differences between them. Furthermore, because fibers is a relatively new medium all of these artists are doing some pretty revolutionary things not seen in the art world before. Whether it is conceptual, visual or physical the presentation and the artists showcased contemporary and relevant ideas.  

 Needle work

http://harlemworldblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/harlem-needle-arts-events/